11 plus approaching...advice please

[woahthere]

My daughter will be taking the 11 plus soon, we have done lots of practise, we started last year and have gradually increased the workload, although not ridiculously so, we have done lots of timed practise tests and have been doing so for a while. We have used many different kinds of test...Bond, GL, Letts, 10 minutes tests, 45 minute tests. She is doing really well and generally getting 87 - 90% which Im hoping will stand her in good stead. Now we are coming up to the finishing line so to speak, which tests would be most accurate and as close to the real thing as possible, I have no idea. My daughters friend made her feel bad the other day by telling my daughter that the only reason she was getting good marks was because she was doing easier tests! As far as Im concerned I dont think there are any other tests for her to do are there? The girl concerned has had a tutor and believes the tutor tests to be harder and Im wondering if this can be true although Im sure its not. The 11 plus for our area is VERBAL REASONING multiple choice. Any advice would be gratefully accepted!! Thanks in advance.

Depends where you are but if you're Bucks the Bright Sparks papers are quite close to the actual level of the test. The GL ones are too.
As for the 87-90%, depends where in the year she is. Older children have to get higher scores.
Good luck!

I used the Bond and Letts tests for my daughter, we are in Kent. Keep up with the practice. Good luck with the tests and tell your daughter to ignore her (rather toxic sounding) friend.

Thank you, I thought it was a rather toxic thing to say as well to be honest but I'll put it down to the pressure they are under! Bit worried if 87 - 90% isnt enough as she is an older child thats more a worried face than confused by the way

woahthere - google 'eleven plus forum' and look at the appropriate regions. The eleven plus is different across the country. Even VR tests can cover different topics. You should get all the advice you need there. Good luck!

Would second catwalker's recommendation, I know some people on MN aren't very fond of the place but I found it v helpful and thorough on the forum specific to where we are.

3 kids through to highly selective grammars here and my biggest, biggest bit of advice is yes to do what you are doing but actually the most important thing for your dd is the " plan b" what if she doesn't pass? Does she have an alternative school that you have " sold" as having positive attributes? Will she feel it's the end of the world if she doesn't pass?

The highly selective tests are odd ones, they are not " get 90% " and you're in ir what ever, but get as high a mark as possible and well allocate places from the highest Mark down till we are full. This means our kids could never really kmow if they'd done enough or oit and we work hard on the alternatives too. I so felt for the pretty large numbers who emerged from the tests crying- if I thought that would be my child they wouldn't sit the exam.

We found the example papers eg bond etc were very " young" fir the standard needed and the youngest was doing 13+ papers before her exam. Can't remember with the others.

Good luck!

We have gone from having a couple of grammars in mind to just going for independents now which is no more scary in regards to the alternative if DD doesn't get in. The more I read, I just knew I would feel like we had settled if she had ended up at one of the grammars only for the sake of not getting a decent scholarship/bursary.

This way, I know that worst comes to the worst I know we are getting a plan a school but I will have to pay something towards it (no more than 50% of which I am confident - academic (strong) art (strong) sports (exceptionally talented).

DD has been buzzed up about this for so long that she often forgets that most in her state primary will literally pass through this last school year without a clue but I do let her know that she is in a blessed position mainly through her sporting excellence otherwise it would be Newstead at the best!